Operation Rolling Thunder
by sgafan360
Summary: AU set in an End War type universe. The war has been going on for 2 years and now one operation hopes to bring a swift end to half of it. The only problem is there's only two people who can pull it off and they have a history.
1. Her

Operation-Rolling Thunder

A/N This is an AU story it takes place in a universe based on End War. I'll attempt to include an explanation of different organizations mentioned and if you have any additional question just let me know and I'll be happy to answer them.

Now here's a basic breakdown of Tom Clancy's End War's universe. (I'll get to Stargate stuff eventually)

End War universe- World War III has broken out between the JSF (America), EUC (Mainland Europe), SPZ (Russia), and China. China is not in the game so I don't have a 3 letter abrevation for them however they will be getting their own special team. The UK is not part of the European Enforcer's and are neutral at the start of the story maintaining close ties with JSF and EUC. Oil is the cause of the war when Iran and Saudi Arabia annihilate each other in a nuclear exchange. Canada is neutral however both Canada and the New commonwealth (UK) are allowing the EUC and JSF to defend bases in their territory as are many other countries. This has caused smaller conflicts to break out across the world where EUC and JSF forces engage SPZ and Chinese forces in and near each other's bases. I hope that made sense.

The last part was created solely for this story but right up to and including the new commonwealth allowing the defense of EUC bases is all canon. Also for the purposes of this story the EUC and JSF will still be allied as they are in the book. I've also added many other things into this universe which are just relevant to the story and should be indentified because they aren't something we'll have in 20 years Also the names should provide some hint IE Atlantis isn't in the universe. I'm almost done with this I promise. If you would like more information on the kick ass game you can find it at coming to the 360 this fall. Oh and it's all voice command. Now I'm done talking about video games and I'll get back to Stargate.

Pairing- John/Teyla

Spoilers- Nothing maybe a name or two but it would be totally obvious like Atlantis or wraith.

I think I'm just missing a disclaimer now aren't I? well I guess I should add that shouldn't I? lol

Disclaimer- I own no part of the Stargate world or the End War world. Just a beta tester for the latter and a fan of the former. I might be including a Halo reference (Such as the title) as well and I own no part of that world either. And without further delay the actual story.

Chapter 1

_Northern Africa JSF field base_

His RAH-66 Comanche touched down near the hanger and was moved inside before John even got a chance to get out. When his squad's helicopters were safely inside he climbed out and greeted the other two members of his team, "Aidan you've got to stay low and fast don't risk the AA catching you out in the open."

Aidan jumped down and inspected the bullet holes in the side of his aircraft he'd taken a few rounds when he slowed his aircraft during the mission. He nodded to his new Colonel he was a bit too friendly but he didn't want to say anything. "Lorne that was some nice maneuvering out there but next time can you do it more than five feet from my bird," Aidan laughed as his old friend checked over his own aircraft which had barely survived a missile attack.

"Thanks I barely made it through that one looks like they hadn't upgraded to the newest version though otherwise it would have hit me and not the flares," he noted the shrapnel lodged a few inches below the cockpit.

"Cadman how'd your mission go?" they heard the Colonel call across the hanger. They'd been trying to get her attention for months and laughed under their breath and this Lt. Colonel's attempts to strike up a conversation with her especially since everyone on base knew she had a thing for the Doctor.

To their surprise she turned around and walked straight at him, "Helluva shot flyboy you nearly wiped out my flight when you hit that fuel depo."

He backed away sensing the danger, "Hey you guys were clear and I called the AWACS and he gave me permission to fire."

Her pace slowed and she cracked a smile, "You did take out their fuel though so I guess we're good for today." She left the reinforced bunker and headed back to the mess hall.

Sheppard turned back towards them and the briefing officer who was now making her way over to their team. She always personally saw to the returning teams no matter how busy she was and she seemed to have grown close to the Colonel, "What trouble did you get yourself into today John?"

"Usual although Lorne over there managed to pull off some pretty fancy stuff to avoid an old Russian missile."

She smiled at him, "You did something General wants to see you in his office ASAP."

"See you later Liz," he said heading out of the hanger and straight to his CO's office.

"So what maneuver did you pull Evan?" She turned to back to Lorne and looked over the teams birds admiring the shots they'd taken.

As he walked into the office he was greeted by a cool breeze from the AC. Africa hadn't seen major fighting yet so it was slower than his previous assignment right in heart of the fighting. He had managed to avoid Europe which was just 24/7 fighting but Afghanistan had been bad once Russian and China had decided that it would make a nice addition. He smiled at the secretary a nice kid he didn't say much to John just waved him through. He entered the general's office and snapped to attention. He wasn't used to the new general and his previous CO, Colonel Sumner, and been a stickler for protocol although General O'Neill appeared a bit more lax. "At ease Sheppard," he said hanging up his phone.

"I was told to report to you immediately sir."

"Yes, you're being transferred," he said taking rifling through all the papers on his desk before grabbing one that appeared to be his transfer order.

"Again sir why?"

"Ask her," he said as the door silently clicked shut behind him.

He knew someone else was in the room but resisted the urge to turn around and face her. He met the Generals gaze with his own ice cold expression, "Hello John."

His expression immediately dropped and he turned around to see the only woman he'd ever loved, "You?" he said angrily.

The smile she had been wearing immediately disappeared and was replaced with a look of concern and worry, "General please give us a moment alone."

He got up and smiled, "Sure use my office."

She walked over and sat in his chair as the door shut, "Take a seat John."

He remained standing, "Why am I being transferred again?"

"That's my fault I wanted you transferred back," she said putting her feet up on the desk. "Look John I'm truly sorry about what happened.

He cut her off having waited for this conversation for years, "About what? Nearly getting me killed? Getting me kicked out? Or for just for screwing up in general?"

"Everything I am truly sorry I…I thought," she paused for a moment regaining her composure. "It doesn't matter now what's done is done."

"So why did you have me transferred?"

She smiled taking a file and handing it to him, "I need you for a mission."

"I…I hope you accept," she said emotionally. She didn't know why she chose him for this mission and she hated the way he made her feel she wasn't used to feeling any kind of emotional attachment to her fellow personnel. She knew that she couldn't afford to be attached to her partner for the mission but something told her that John was the only one for the job and it might help make up for what she'd done to him.

Her face dropped as he remained frozen, "Tey what's the matter?" she didn't respond and he immediately knew that something was different about her she used to be much less emotional and he knew that the training they'd undergone wasn't known for making people soft. "Hey what's the mission?" he smiled at her hoping to cheer her up.

"I'm sorry we've been experimenting with some stuff and it has some side effects," she said sitting up and giving him a weak smile.

"You're on drugs?" he asked concernedly and moved around the desk next to her taking her pulse.

"I'm fine John and it was just for this last mission don't worry they'll all be gone by the time our mission starts."

He smiled and brushed her hair away from her face, "You'll be back to your old heatless self?"

She smiled, "Yes John and I have missed you."

He knew that this was the end of their professional conversation and that he needed to take advantage of this emotional Teyla and get some answers, "I think we should talk about what happened at the farm."

She knew that this was coming she was ashamed of what'd she done and he had done so much for her, "John as I said I am sorry I did not mean for it to happen the way it did."

He was still kneeling next to her and he began flipping through the transfer order, "But why'd you do it?"

"You were quite old for regular training and we were told to be wary of everything," she paused judging his expression. "I…After we were together I was worried that you're mission was to seduce me and get me kicked out of the program." Her voice was weak and her body showed the signs of extreme stress, "That morning I went to them and told them everything and…and I heard that when they went to my quarters you…you were there waiting for me and I've always regretted not seeing you again."

"But why didn't you report me for the flirting, the dates and stuff?"

"I…I enjoyed it if you remember I also partook in the flirting and I asked you out first."

He remained kneeling next to her gently running his fingers through her hair, "Then why report me at all?"

When he had first ran his fingers through her hair she hadn't even taken note of it but when he stopped she realized what he had been doing and she was surprised at how easily they had fallen into their old habits. She turned to him her eyes soft looking for forgiveness in his, "You first wanted to take our relationship to the next level and I…I was afraid that you were as I said a test, one I had fallen for."

Her reasoning helped but she had had him carted off like he was nothing as if their time together had meant nothing, "I…I can't tell you it didn't hurt knowing that you just had me sent off I thought I meant more to you than that."

She held back a sob as a tear silently slid down her cheek, "You are taking advantage of me and the state I'm in."

"Yes I am," he said smiling at her as he got up. He had some of what he needed and didn't want to push her any further.

It only took her a moment for her normal composed personality to reassert itself, "Report to the farm in three days to reacquaint yourself with protocol and then well I really can't say."

He smiled at her a smile she had always found irresistible, "How about a hint?"

She had prepared for this deciding on just the right hint during the flight to his base, "Plato."

"Plato?" he asked.

She nodded smiling he would never dissect it in time there was no way he would be able to figure out from Plato that they were going to the most advanced facility operated by the EUC and JSF

She left as he sat there going over her little hint, "See you in two weeks John."

"Bye Teyla."

End Chapter 1

A/N Hope you enjoyed the story once you finally got to it sorry about such a long intro in the beginning but I prefer too much information as opposed to too little information I actually had more A/N's but decided to spare you lol. Reviews are always appreciated.


	2. One mistake

Chapter 2

A/N character list:

Lt. Aidan Ford- 3rd member of John's team.

Major Evan Lorne- 2IC of John's team.

Lt. Elizabeth Weir- Briefing officer.

General O'Neill- Commander of Sheppard's base.

Laura Cadman- Flight leader.

Colonel Marshall Sumner- Sheppard's former CO based in Afghanistan.

General Scott Mitchell- Former Ghost leader current commander of all JSF forces known for an appreciation of Spec-ops and a sense of humor. (End War Universe character)

General George Hammond- Head of the Agency.

Agent Ronon Dex- Legendary among agents and soldiers alike he works alone and is well known for his skill in any kind of fight.

Doctor Jennifer Keller- Agency Doctor

Doctor Rodney McKay- Scientist at research outpost 1- 2nd in command on Project Thor and Project lead on Project Zeus and numerous other projects.

Doctor Cortana Halsey- Scientist at research outpost 1- Project lead on Project Thor and numerous other projects.

John and Teyla were omitted because there history is a major part of the story.

Chapter 2

_2 weeks ago _

_Research outpost #1_

She sat in her plush office reviewing personnel records for her next mission. She was leaving for another mission in a few hours but her future mission had just hit its first snag. Her partner Ronon Dex had been called away on another mission. She didn't look forward to working with a partner but she was being forced to for this mission. She'd graduated a few years behind Agent Dex but he was legendary among them and whatever he was being called away for was obviously important. She dismissed another soldier he lacked the ability to keep a secret something that would be important for this mission. As she opened the next folder she stopped at the name. She recognized it and she was immediately taken back to a time eight years ago.

8 Years Ago

He smiled down at her while his hands lazily explored her body. She returned the smile and snuggled closer to her lover. She laid there quietly thinking about their relationship and how it had grown. He'd caught her eye on the first day when he claimed he could fly anything and the instructor promptly challenged him to fly an experimental helicopter. John hadn't been daunted by the prospect of flying a new untested helicopter and promptly flew around the grounds a few times before landing. During the years of hard training that followed they quickly formed a friendship he was by far the oldest one there at 24 the youngest being a mere 15 years old. She was part of the older crowd at 20 but the oldest ever to graduate was 26 meaning that John was often subject to extra scrutiny as he would be 30 at graduation.

Many believed that he was a spy planted to attempt to sabotage them. The thought had crossed her mind but she had dismissed it initially but now she realized they'd broken a lot of rules and if anyone saw them they'd both be thrown out of the program. They'd been dating for a long time but if anyone questioned they could always claim they were just friends and even the small quick kisses they'd shared in public could be excused as those of friends. But once they'd become intimate it had became impossible to claim they were just friends and the idea that he was a spy returned. He was by far the oldest to the point that he could have graduated if he had been one of the youngest initially only to turn around and spy on the next group.

It was hard to believe that someone would undergo six years of training just to do it all again but the agency was paranoid. As she laid there up against him listening to his rhythmic breathing she found herself unable to fall asleep. Her mind was in overdrive considering every possibility from marriage to John being a spy. As she considered it more and more she realized that while she had initially been the aggressor in the relationship, she had been the one to ask him out on a date and she had initiated their first real kiss, but now he had been the one to take things to the next level she hadn't resisted and had in fact welcomed his advances but she couldn't shake the idea that this was all an act. She realized that the best way to protect herself from being thrown out was to head to the instructors and tell them that they had had sex. The more she thought about it the more she was able to convince herself that John was a spy. By the time she drifted off to sleep hours later she was certain he was a spy and hoped that being honest with the instructors would be enough to prove that she was still committed to the program after four years. She wasn't concerned with what could happen to John because she believed he was spy and of course he wouldn't be punished for doing his job.

_10 hours later_

She felt like crawling inside a hole and dying. She'd convinced herself that John was a spy and had stopped allowing for the possibility that he was going to be the oldest agent and that he was attracted to her. She had woken early and gone to her instructors confident that she would survive this. The meeting had been short and when they'd thanked her and asked if she had any questions she'd decided to risk it and ask if he was a spy when they laughed and told her no she felt her entire world shatter he'd been her friend since the first day there and now he was gone. She just sat there stunned she had been so totally sure that he was a spy to the point where the idea that he wasn't had stopped registering with her. After a few minutes she realized that she had just single handedly ended his dream he was going to be kicked out of the program immediately and would forever be branded as one of the failures. The program was long, six years total training time, and hard, only the absolute best were even considered, but once you got in very few ever dropped out she'd once been on base with a dropout and it wasn't pretty he'd been taunted, teased, laughed at, and became a source of amusement for his fellow officers none had treated him like another person. When she saw his eyes she knew it wasn't an isolated incident it happened to them wherever they went which probably explained why most went into civilian life and did everything they could to hide their past but she knew that wouldn't be an option for John. After telling them everything she'd managed to find a bar they'd often gone to and she curled up in one of the booths and attempted to drown out here sorrow with alcohol. It hadn't worked and when she left she still had to deal with everyone.

There were only twenty or so of them on base so word spread quickly and accurately. She heard the story from her friend Anise that John Sheppard had been taken from her quarters in handcuffs. After some more wrangling she'd gotten the name of one of the men who'd taken him away. With a name and armed with years of training she tracked him down within the hour and managed to get some answers. Unfortunately the answers weren't something she wanted to hear when the guards had raided her room he'd been there still sleeping and when they got him up he'd begged to talk to her or leave her a note but they had strict orders that he was to have no contact with anyone still in the program. He'd even attempted to subdue them but they were trained for just such a situation and were able to overcome him. He'd then been dragged unceremoniously from her room and brought out for processing where he was informed of what he'd done and how they had found out. He told her that John had stopped struggling and stopped asking to contact her at that point and had simply signed everything they asked him to.

After that incident she'd thrown herself back into her training with fierce determination hoping that no one would be able to see how empty her life had become without him. Everyone had missed John he was the person everyone turned to with problems partly because he was the oldest and partly the suspicion that he was a spy made him seem like an official way to get a problem dealt with. She also knew that now she was no longer trusted by anyone. It had been obvious that they had been close to everyone but when they'd learned just how close they were and what she'd done no one was able to trust her again. The lack of trust didn't bother her Agents worked alone except in special circumstances and the idea that her and John ever had a shot at being a real couple was foolish at best but that was no comfort to her heart.

_8 Years later_

As soon as she read the name she knew he was the only one she could do the mission with in addition to the training he'd already received he had racked up several dozen victories against the enemy and had managed to slip behind enemy lines and rescue a fellow pilot. She hoped that perhaps this mission would make up for what he'd lost but she knew it never would even if they survived.

With her partner selected she turned her attention to the only thing that gave them a shot at completing the mission. The file was slim only a few pages but she didn't need much more than an update on it. The update was on the first page but unlike previous updates she noticed that this one contained some censoring, "Looks like security is getting a little paranoid."

_The following report has been edited for security reasons. _

_To: Agent Teyla Emmagan _

_From: Project Thor lead, Cortana_

_Latest Update on Project Thor._

_We have made excellent progress the system is almost (Deleted). However we need to know the specifications of your partner as you know each (Deleted)__ is specifically designed for each user so that it may operate at (Deleted). The (Deleted) and (Deleted) in the (Deleted) should allow you to complete your mission however we are also attempting to (Deleted) a new (Deleted) into the (Deleted). If we get it working in time it should make the mission a breeze and I know you'll absolutely love it, we're calling them (Deleted). I bet you're excited now come on (Deleted)? Hell with those things I'd go into (Deleted). Anyway I'll probably see you down in the lab today or tomorrow and if you wait till tomorrow (Deleted) has to head out to some field base in (Deleted) so it'll just be us girls down here. Hey maybe we could (Deleted)? It'd be fun and you know it :)__. We wouldn't need to hide from (Deleted) so we'd have all day to (Deleted)._

_Sincerely, Cortana_

_PS dam those guys from security are making me hand this over and allow them to screen it well hopefully some of this gets to you and if you want a better update just come on down to the lab._

She understood most of it having been down in the lab a few days prior for a personal update from the team. She sighed and grabbed her papers it looked like she'd have to make the trip all the way down to the lab not that she really minded she and Cortana were good friends but Doctor McKay was always down there and he was annoying to say the least. The lab was buried deep in the dark recesses of Atlantis and unlike many of the clean labs she loathed to visit, Cortana's lab was well known for its relatively unclean feel. She also hated being forced to change into a clean suit but Rodney and Cortana had worked hard to make sure that the lab allowed everyone to wear normal clothing a right she always took. While waiting for the elevator she decided to give it a day and head down there tomorrow when Rodney would be gone. She took the elevator back to her room and for the first time in many months dreamed not of the war or a mission but of John and how she had hurt him.

She woke slowly to sunlight streaming in through her window. Agents were not forced to wake up at a certain time and were given the freedom to do whatever they wanted unless they had a meeting or a mission. She grabbed her handgun from her dresser and got dressed in her usual uniform. She didn't bother to make sure it was up to her usual standards as she knew she would be shedding it once she was down in the lab alone with Cortana.

End Chapter 2

A/N Reviews are always appreciated.

Well It didn't accept some of what I did (blackouts) so I had to go back in and do it again so unfortunatly a few of you have got some major spoilers. Hopefully you'll forget what you read though.


	3. Doctor McKay

A/N I'm really sorry about the text problem in the last chapter it was quite annoying and unfortunately there were some moderate spoilers in it. I hate the way it looks now with the (Deleted) things I originally had it all nice and blacked out but unfortunately it doesn't let me do that.

Chapter 3-Doctor McKay

He had two weeks to kill and had been taken off of active duty so that he wouldn't be killed before the mission. However the base was in the desert far from cities and wasn't known for its entertainment. He spent most of his time with his team and Liz but when they were gone and she was busy he had nothing to do. While they were all in a briefing he headed out around the base perimeter where he found someone he'd never encountered before, "Hey you what's your name?" he raised his sidearm but looking at his opponent knew he could take him hand to hand anyway.

"Doctor McKay and who are you?" Rodney asked tinkering with some sort of machine.

"Colonel John Sheppard," he said peering over Rodney's shoulder attempting to see what he was doing.

"Hey can you hand me the tablet?"

John complied and handed him the tablet, "What are you doing?"

"Installing my latest project," he greedily stared at the computer watching the readouts and adjusting them as needed.

"Which would be what?"

"I'm sorry what level of clearance do you have?" Rodney smiled figuring the solider had little to no clearance let alone the level to know about what he was doing.

"I'm heading out to Atlantis in a few weeks before going on some top secret mission I haven't been briefed on yet," John said smartly hoping he had solved Teyla's hint correctly.

"Wait if you haven't been briefed how do you know about it?" Rodney put the tablet back on top of the generator while his head remained inside of it.

"Agent Teyla Emmagan recruited me for it I need to report back to the farm in two weeks," John grabbed the tablet and looked at its readouts.

"You're Emmagan's partner?"

"You know her?"

"Yeah her and Cortana are probably screwing around in my lab right now," Rodney said annoyed at them despite it being Cortana's lab first and his secondary lab.

"Why?" John leaned against the generator Rodney was still working on.

"They think I don't know what they do when I'm not there but I know what they do, I get copies of the tapes from security," he smiled and pulled out of the generator satisfied it was working.

"What are they doing?"

"I don't think Agent Emmagan would want you to know," he grabbed his tablet and began packing up his equipment.

"So what were you doing here?"

"Project Zeus it's an EM field designed to help protect against guided missile and electronic warfare attacks," he put the generator covering back on and got in his hummvee and waited for John to get in.

"Cool any chance of getting it on helicopters?"

"Not right now I need to get it working on a base level before I can make it small enough for vehicles so it should be ready in a few months," Rodney said self assuredly. He gunned it across the open desert heading to the next generator around the base, "So what made Agent Emmagan choose you?"

"She had other choices?" John was surprised he would have thought he was the last person Teyla would want to work with.

"Yeah huge stack of candidates," Rodney said driving around a sand dune. "Any reason she wouldn't want you?"

"We have a history and it didn't end on friendly terms."

"Oh huh I always thought she was more discreet about it than others she certainly doesn't have a reputation nearly as bad as some others like Dex." John knew he was referring to the fact that Agents were well known for their libido and in the case of some more legendary agents like Dex commanders were known to have quarantined some female and male personnel away from them. John knew that almost every agent was known to engage in that kind of behavior regardless of age or gender but he'd always figured Teyla might be an exception considering what had happened between them. "So what you two were like dating? Or was it just a three night stand?" Rodney joked at the short lived nature of Agents relationships and the fact that most ended after a night or two.

John worked hard to conceal his past from everyone and fortunately General O'Neill hadn't told anyone but he felt he could trust Rodney, "We knew each other in training and she got me kicked out."

"You're an ex-agent?" Rodney stared at John ignoring his driving.

"Only the general knows don't tell anyone," John said raising his eyebrow in warning.

"How'd she get you kicked out?" Rodney refocused on his driving narrowly avoiding a large rock.

"Fraternization we slept together and she went to the instructors and reported me to them when she woke up and I haven't seen her since." Sheppard stared out into the desert his eyes unfocused.

"Damm I didn't know she was that cold I mean she's threatened me once or twice but to actually do that to you I think I'm going to stay away from her for awhile."

"Yeah she can be cold we all can it's the training and most of the rumors are true and are the result of the training."

"Must have hurt though," Rodney pulled over to a generator his last for the day.

"To have the woman you love get you kicked out and sent away from her? Yeah that hurt."

They piled got out of Rodney's hummer silently and John helped him take out his equipment, "So how'd you get over her?"

"I never did I threw myself at my work and the war started so I haven't had much time to dwell on it well until now that is." John took off the generator covering that he had seen Rodney replace on the previous one.

"But that must have been years ago," Rodney began taking out his equipment.

"Rodney you think hiding my past isn't a full time job? Perhaps being in Atlantis hasn't shown you but ex-agents like me we're not treated very nicely hell the suicide rate is around 95 for those remaining in the military." Sheppard grabbed the rest of Rodney's gear for him and left it outside by the generator.

Rodney muttered something under his breath as he poked his head around in the generator connecting wires and trying to get some readings on his tablet. "So are you going to be able to work with her?"

"I've got no choice but we shouldn't encounter to many problems we were both trained to avoid personal entanglements not that we listened to that."

John stood by the generator watching the desert for any kind of threat. A plane roared overhead heading out to sea and he knew it was Teyla's he recognized it as her preferred kind of plane small, stealthy and fast he also recognized her flying style low and fast. He smiled he'd been the one to teach her how to fly in the program he'd already had flight training and some ground training but she'd been the opposite she'd taught him how to fight and he taught her how to fly. Of course they'd learned numerous things from other trainees as once in the program everyone was eager to show off their skills and teach others so that they could defeat the instructors during their combat exercises.

The exercises were continual and difficult. They usually involved some sort of objective and as the years went by they became more and more proficient with their fighting skills and the teams got smaller and smaller until eventually they were fighting alone. John had been kicked out a few months after the solo exercises had began so he didn't know what they eventually became in the following two years. "Do you know anything about the mission?"

Rodney finished hooking up his computer and began modifying the generator, "Nothing I can tell you but don't worry you two will be fine unless Cortana screws something up."

He made his alterations and with John's help he managed to complete his modifications quickly and recovered the generator. They climbed back into the humvee and began the long drive back into base, "So how was the training?"

"Long, hard, boring, painful and I never got to the rewards part of it."

"Sorry if you don't mind me asking but why did you two get together in the first place? It was against the rules." Rodney continued driving back into base and the first checkpoint began to materialize.

"You've never been in love have you?"

"No, so what you guys just sort of fell in love?"

"Not so sure about her after what she did but yeah I did." They rode in silence for a few minutes as they approached the checkpoint, "Hey what we talked about don't mention it to anyone it's a secret one I work hard to keep."

"Yeah don't worry I'm heading to another base tomorrow, Zeus needs a more frontline area to be tested in." Rodney pulled up to the checkpoint and they flashed their IDs which were quickly verified.

Rodney parked the humvee in front of his VIP quarters and began unpacking all of his equipment. "Hey if you need any help just let me know I've got nothing to do for the next two weeks."

"Thanks Sheppard but like I said I'm leaving tomorrow although if you want I'll talk to Teyla and see if I can move it up."

"Thanks but I imagine she has me waiting two weeks for a reason," Sheppard brought in the last of Rodney's equipment.

Rodney headed into his refrigerator and began digging around for something, "No she doesn't have a reason apart from wanting a little time to herself and wanting to personally oversee the last few stages of Cortana's project."

Rodney turned around and handed a water to John, "Hey she said they had her own some drugs for her last mission do you know anything about that?"

Rodney took a drink of the water he had received from the refrigerator, "Her last mission was two weeks ago so it wasn't for that oh yeah I know what those were for it wasn't a mission her and Cortana didn't listen to me and started early so she would have had to take something for the interface. Don't worry you won't have to Cortana has another interface that's basically done but she needs to wait for me to clear it with my own stuff."

"So Teyla's gonna be ok right?" John took a long drink from his water.

"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah she'll be fine and thanks Sheppard."

John walked out the door leaving his half empty water on the table, "See you in a few weeks Rodney."

End Chapter 3

A/N Review(s) are always appreciated. More on the training in the next chapter.

Asugar- Yup and thank you for reminding me of the word (fraternization) I'd forgotten it. You'll learn more about what Agents are in the next chapter and I hope you enjoy it. I'll try to include more on John's past in a future chapter I hadn't planed on it but I should be adding it in the next chapter or the one after that espically since it looks like it's coming in light.


	4. Back to basic

A/N One last thing to add Ghosts are a special forces team.

Chapter 4

He walked up the steps to the building it'd been years since he'd last been in the building. It was the first building they'd been taken to as trainees and it contained some basic obstacle courses and a firing range. He entered the building and was greeted by a cool gust of air which was a relief from the stifling heat which his dress blues did not help with. He headed into the reception area hoping to figure out where he was supposed to go. He stopped by the starred wall which contained a star for every operative who'd died in the field. Some of the oldest operative's names were still classified but most of the modern agents were well known for their operations. He recognized a few new ones since the last time he'd been here. On the wall opposite the entrance was a large engraving announcing the official name of the facility and he smiled at it. He stood there for a moment. Her years of training and stealthy nature prevented him from sensing her approach, "Fifth Echelon established 2016." He turned and faced her surprised at quick and stealthy approach.

The organization and training had grown out of third echelon and the splinter cell program. He knew the unnamed stars were from the old splinter cell program those guys were their heroes operating without any backup and without half the tech Agents now had. "I figured out your hint."

"Oh what was it?" Teyla feigned ignorance hoping he hadn't gotten it right.

"Atlantis," John's smug smile immediately annoyed Teyla.

"Very good I honestly didn't expect you to get it. When did you get into Greek history?"

"After you had me thrown out," his words cut through her and she knew it was still a sore spot with him.

She decided to ignore it and remain professional, "Follow me."

He obeyed and followed her through some doors which opened up to a large obstacle course, "Run it I'll be waiting at the end you have five minutes."

He looked at her try to see if she was kidding but with the look she was giving him he knew she wasn't. He was wearing his dress blues and wasn't remotely ready for this he figured his first day would be settling in and maybe doing some paperwork. His attire wasn't his only problem his body wasn't used to running obstacle courses but as he started to go through it his body started to remember when he arrived at the end Teyla was waiting for him looking impatient, "You are late."

"Time?" he panted his body wasn't used to scaling up walls.

She held out a bottle of water for him, "four minutes and forty-five seconds."

"Sorry it's been awhile," he said grabbing the water bottle she offered.

As soon as he brought it to his mouth she kicked the bottle knocking it out of his hands. "Hey what was that for?" he started to ask but when he saw her stance he knew they were already starting to spar. She attacked again a simple punch and he blocked and countered with his own. He hadn't fought hand to hand in a long time but she wouldn't care she was going to give him everything she had after a few minutes. During a brief lull in their fighting he looked at the table and noticed the rods she often used. A few minutes later he found himself on the floor and she was picking up the rods. When he got back up she started attacking him again hitting his knees and forcing him to the ground. He attempted to retrieve his rods from the table but she prevented him from doing so for several minutes.

After she was satisfied he had been bruised and beaten enough she disarmed him and ordered him to follow her out the door. The door led out onto a large open range, "It's one mile to the track and I want you to do one mile on the track. "

* * *

When he completed his task she looked slightly please, "Better but you still need to improve." He was reminded of the second day of training but he had a feeling this was going to be worse much worse she would expect him to match her by the end of his crash course.

"I'm in my dress blues not exactly the best thing to run in." She ignored his comment and immediately began hand-to-hand fighting again before a three mile run to the firing range where she drilled him until he was able to score marksman with every weapon on the range. After another five mile run back to their private barracks she let him rest.

* * *

She had chosen a cot next to his despite the many empty beds around the room, "So what have you been up to?"

She laid down on her own bed adjusting to her own jet lag, "You remember your last mission for Sumner? The one where your friend was shot down?"

"I'll never forget it." He'd nearly been court marshaled for his little stunt there.

"If you remember it started out as a raid on an Al-Qaeda camp, well that was only a distraction so I could slip in and gather some intel."

"Was it successful?"

"I recovered a stolen nuclear weapon the next week. It was destined for New York City. Is that worth it to you?" She grabbed a book from her nightstand and opened to where she had left off hoping his curiosity had been satisfied for the night.

John nodded putting his head back down on his pillow and closing his eyes.

She hadn't counted on her own curiosity to get the better of her it'd been years since she'd actually asked anyone besides an Agent about their past, "And you?"

"Fighting and hiding my past O'Neill was good with it he didn't tell anyone but Sumner made it quite well known."

She leaned over to him, "I'm sorry John as you know I thought you already were an Agent."

"Oh well that makes me feel good inside."

She moved back to her bed and reopened the book, "I'm sure you got over it."

He didn't like talking about his feeling but he hated lying to her even more. "No and given your _reputation_ I'm sure you didn't have any trouble." He hoped she'd ignore his response and focus on her reputation.

Teyla considered letting the comment go she didn't like talking about her feelings except in defense of her own actions but he had just told her that he hadn't gotten over her, "Contrary to what you believe it wasn't easy for me to get over you." She smiled to herself she'd attempted to reassure him that she had cared for him without opening the door to them restarting their relationship.

"Right so what happened after I was kicked out?"

"We continued with our training and the exercises became more and more difficult."

"Anyone else drop out?" she knew he had many friends in the program but was surprised he still wanted to know about them.

"No although a few have died since graduating."

"Anise and Mitchell?"

"Fine I saw them last week."

They laid there for a few minutes in silence, "Rodney told me you had other candidates why me? I mean you had to know I'd be bringing up what you did to me. "

"You are a close DNA match so they would need to only make some slight modifications."

"So all you wanted was my DNA?"

"Yes," she lied shutting out the light and turning away from John.

"If you wanted it so much then you shouldn't have worn me out." She heard him mutter as he turned over and turned off his own light.

* * *

She woke him before the sun and began the exercises. When the sun set she finally allowed him to stop and head into the main facility. "Going to tell me anymore about this mission we're going on?"

She led him into the mess hall, "You have a few days of training and then we are heading to Research outpost one."

"Atlantis."

"Yes," they gathered their food and took seats next to a group of young ghosts.

"How come I haven't seen you doing any of this?"

"I have no need you however do not meet _my_ standards."

"Ah yes the infamous Teyla Emmagan standards fail them and well you really don't want to know," he said to the group sitting next to him.

She frowned at him, "I could find someone else although you'd have to be killed but that doesn't seem like such a bad thing at this point."

The look on his face told her that she'd gone too far because she could in fact kill him without facing a criminal repercussions. After her comment they finished their food in awkward silence.

* * *

After they finished she had him run back out to the range. "So what do I need to score this time?"

She headed into a back room ignoring his question. She emerged a minute or so later carrying two cases, "Grab your stuff." He followed her order and grabbed his own weapons and ammo and put them in similar cases.

A few minutes later he approached the range and saw that she was now laid in the middle of several weapons. She was carefully cleaning an M82 and had already stripped an XM8. "What are we doing?"

"Competition," she responded quietly her focus solely on cleaning and adjusting her weapons. After a few minutes during which John set up his own weapons she reassembled her weapons and prepared to begin. "First round five shots half a mile."

"Ok," he said selecting his weapon and starting to adjust for wind, humidity and other factors. He heard a boom which signaled her first shot and watched as it destroyed the targets "head". "Nice shot," he said as she fired the second round and destroyed another target.

When she finished she had decapitated each target perfectly, "Can you beat that?" she smiled she had always been an excellent shot and John wasn't known for his long range marksmanship.

He fired off his own five and managed to come close but he missed his fourth shot giving her the win. She didn't acknowledge how he had done and picked up her XM8 slapped in a magazine and looked down range. "How come you use that?" he motioned to her weapon as he readied his own SCARH.

"I prefer the flexibility it gives me and my enemies have learned to be happy this weapon is not used by all of our armed forces," She squeezed off a few rounds which impacted dead center to emphasize the point.

"I can see why," he shot off a few rounds which also hit his target in the head but lacked the precision accuracy demonstrated by Teyla.

"Round two fully automatic score a kill on as many targets as possible in thirty seconds."

He nodded and prepared for the buzzer indicating the start of their session. He dropped the magazine and replaced it with a new one with lethal efficiency. The buzzer sounded and they began firing at their targets. When the buzzer sounded again and the firing stopped she dropped her empty clip and admired their handiwork. He hadn't managed to take out as many targets as she had but he was only a few behind her and most of his shots were as accurate as her just slightly slower. She didn't worry too much about his reaction time Thor would correct that along with adrenaline. After going through every other weapon in her arsenal she sent him on another run and then returned to their private barracks for the night.

* * *

"You have greatly improved," she said calmly as she began lighting candles for her meditation.

"Thanks you're just as good as ever," he smiled at her and moved off of his bed and went over to where she was blowing out the match.

He stood in front of her and she sank to the floor and began her meditation, "Is there something you want?"

He said nothing but joined her on the floor mimicking her own meditative movements. She was shocked by his actions he had always resisted joining her in the past but now he appeared willing to join her. She was skeptical of his motives but kept silent until they had finished, "Why did you join me? You have always resisted in the past."

He shrugged, "People change."

"Thank you it was nice to have another to share the experience with. It has been many years since I have had the company of another and it was preferable," She remained on the floor while he blew out the candles.

"I'll expect you to remember that and I'll be calling that favor in."

"I'm not sleeping with you because you did," she said standing and following him over to their beds.

He got to his bed where he turned and smiled mischievously, "You sure?"

She pushed him backwards onto his bed her own smile matching his.

End Chapter 4

A/N Asugar I look forward to review and would ask you one thing (along with anyone else in the rare chance they suddenly decide to start reviewing this story which would be a welcome and pleasant surprise) would you like to see another full chapter on this base? Or just part on base and part on Atlantis. This chapter intially came in a little short however if you enjoyed it I can delay leaving for Atlantis for another chapter and write another one at this base or I can do part of the base and then onto Atlantis.

Also I attempted to include some more humor however I do lack a sense of humor so it does require a more conscious effort (not something that comes easy to me at 4am). Anyway I hope you enjoyed.


	5. Atlantis

A/N Well I'm quite sad about the show being cancelled so future chapter will probably be delayed as it took me days to even reopen this doc let alone type this. Well CERN and the LHC made me feel better so I finally managed to write this.

Chapter 5

"Break right," he called as he saw tracers erupt from the ground. She obeyed narrowly avoiding the column. He located the source and loosed a missile on it. A few seconds later it was marked as dead on his HUD and he angled his aircraft down to join Teyla's. They proceeded towards their objective without further interruption. Teyla allowed John to take point in the operation because he was a better pilot and she wanted to see what he would plan for the mission. As he approached the objective he decreased his speed and altitude so that he was just barely above the treetops. As he approached it he pulled up and began searching for targets he quickly found a few fixed gun emplacements and targeted them bringing his aircrafts cannon to bear and opening up on the sites. After raking them with gunfire he looked at other targets he loosed a pair of missiles at the command center and followed up by machine gun fire. It was marked as dead on his HUD a short while later and he continued going through targets. He saw Teyla's aircraft fly in next to him and open up with a volley of missiles, rockets and machine gun fire. He saw a few buildings marked as dead but she was still rushing her shots and unlike John in flight she became anxious and often rushed her shots sacrificing accuracy for speed. "Teyla break left and head towards the canyon."

"Negative," she replied resenting his authority and refusing to comply with any of his orders.

"Teyla they're going to hit both of us I need you to head around back."

She ignored him and moved slowly into the camp firing on anything that moved. He knew that this wasn't safe even if the Russians didn't have portable SAMs they most certainly had at least some AAA inside one of the hangers or in an underground bunker. He backed his gunship off slowly and began the maneuver he had previously ordered Teyla to begin. He saw it out of the corner of his eye a pair of soldiers climbing up a tower as they neared the top he saw one of them look towards him and another towards Teyla. He saw a jet of flame as the missile fired and streaked towards her gunship, "TEYLA MISSILE BREAK LEFT." He noticed another missile headed towards his aircraft however his attention was captured by a fireball to his right as the missile impacted and annihilated Teyla's helicopter. He jinked right then left and dropped chaff. The missile was too close and wasn't fooled by his counter measures as it closed in and impacted his bird which exploded into its own fireball.

He jumped out of the simulator and angrily looked over at the other one which Teyla was slowly exiting. "What was that?"

She shot him an angry look, "I felt that your tactical planning was flawed."

"I was lead on that you should have followed my orders which wouldn't have gotten us killed."

Her voice remained calm, "I will exercise my own judgment."

"I've got more aerial combat experience than you and you need to learn that you aren't right."

At hearing him say that he had more experience she immediately lost her cool, "I am the senior operative. I am the one who graduated. I am the one who knows what this mission is and I am the one who will be giving orders."

"I'm not following your orders if they're going to get me killed."

"House now," her voice was stern as she turned and ascended the staircase.

He turned to the technician running some sort of test on an empty simulator, "It felt a little sluggish when I was climbing."

"Yeah that one also doesn't perform well if you attempt to hover at low altitude."

John nodded and left him to his subterranean bunker.

* * *

"My record is eighteen point two three seconds," she said through the loudspeaker as he crouched outside the front door.

He touched his earpiece, "And I'm supposed to beat that?"

"If you don't you're sleeping outside tonight."

"Wait I think we need to discuss," he stopped as he heard the buzzer sound signaling the start of his exercise.

He leapt into action running through the open doorway. He saw a closed door at the end of the hallway and sprinted towards it. He hit the door and scanned the room, inside were two tangos one holding a civilian hostage, he loosed a burst at the one without a hostage and immediately sighted and fired one shot into her head. He counted that six seconds had elapsed and ran through the next door entering the final room where a fake bomb was sitting with a timer. He immediately tossed his MP5 SD and went over to the bomb inspecting it and attempting to find a way to disarm it.

"Three seconds," Teyla merrily called from the doorway where she was leaning against the doorframe watching him.

He located the make and model of the bomb grabbed his knife and began remembering which wire he needed to cut. His eyes slid over to Teyla who was smiling as she stared at her watch the final seconds ticking away. He refocused his attention on the three wires he saw a bead of swat fall onto the digital time display. He knew he didn't have any more time and went on instinct his pulse thundering in his ears. The display faded as he cut the correct wire and he looked over to Teyla, "eighteen point two three seconds." He smiled to himself knowing that if he had beaten her she would have made his life hell.

He looked back over to her noticing the water she was holding out to him, "That puts me on top doesn't it?"

She rolled her eyes, "We are tied."

"Oh but on the scoreboard the newest score is on top," he smiled and accepted the water she offered.

* * *

She carefully got out of her bed and headed to the bathroom careful not to wake John. She locked the door and began her morning routine. She wiped the steam from the shower off the mirror and looked at her reflection. She questioned her actions she knew that asking him on the mission wasn't the greatest idea but they could deal with it however sleeping in the same room as him was a bad idea. Sleeping next to him was a really bad idea. Letting him get close to her and rekindle their friendship took the cake. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and got dressed in her usual uniform. She exited the private barracks a few minutes later and headed jumped into a nearby humvee. She drove back to the main building where she had a meeting.

* * *

She walked into the meeting with a tablet full of statistics. She took a seat and faced the NSA bureaucrat, "How is he progressing?"

She was glad he was direct as she had no desire to spend any more time than was necessary in the meeting. "He's still slower than me and his aim is off by," she paused and thumbed her tablet to the next page, "2"

"That is barely within the accepted margin of error," he critiqued looking over his paper file.

"Thor will correct that and his DNA matches Thor better than most so the interface should work even better than it does on me."

"Yes we noticed that your DNA doesn't seem to be a very good match," he grinned hoping to bait her into fighting over her own status on the operation.

She leaned forward annoyed at the politicking. Generally agents were protected from it by their director. She didn't know the director personally and had only seen him once during her initiation ceremony where he'd given a short speech in which he'd actually told the graduates to not worry about politics and that he'd deal with it. She didn't know how he did it but he managed to keep politicians and others away from the agency. "What are you implying?" she responded directly and forcefully to his veiled threat.

"That perhaps we should replace you."

"This is my op and you will not interfere in it. My coming here and reporting to you is a simple courtesy nothing more," She powered the tablet down and stood up.

"The NSA does still maintain authority over your agency and you," he said as she gathered a few papers and left.

* * *

She saw him in the mess hall sitting uncomfortably in his dress blues. She grabbed a bottle of water and motioned for him to join her by the door. As he got closer to her she left and headed out into the adjacent hallway where it was much quieter, "We're scheduled for a flight out of Dulles in one hour."

"I'm ready," he lifted his duffel bag.

They headed out to the front door where a car was waiting to take them to the airport.

* * *

They landed on a nearby carrier and then transferred to a helicopter which took them the rest of the way to the city. When they arrived Teyla jumped out and headed inside without saying anything to him. He could tell that he was supposed to follow her lead and hoped that he would soon be briefed.

They walked down several corridors and took an Elevator down to one of the lower levels that was restricted to Agents only. The elevator opened up into an intersection of empty hallways. John looked around suspiciously while Teyla simply strode forward taking a right. As she started down that hallway two people rounded the corner, "Teyla."

"Anise, Mitchell how are you two?"

As they neared they were able to more accurately see the man with Teyla, "John?"

"Yeah Teyla's got me here for some kind of mission," he smiled warmly at them surprised they remembered him after so many years of no contact.

They looked at John but when they turned to Teyla any hint of friendliness was gone, "do not pull another stunt like last time Teyla or you will regret it." Their joint warning shook Teyla she had always known that her comrades had been disappointed in her actions but never to the point where she felt that they might feel the need to take action against her in defense of another especially a failure like John.

She whispered, "I have no such intention."

Anise stared at her while Cameron spoke for the two, "I'll make sure that you don't." Mitchell and Anise passed between the two forming a literal barrier between the two.

"John if you've got any free time look us up we'll be on base for the next few days," Anise called as she and Mitchell continued on forcing Teyla to take a step away from John to make room for the two forming a literal barrier between the two.

Teyla moved on with an increased pace hoping to avoid encountering anyone else who might feel any sympathy for John. "Does everyone feel that way?"

"I do not know." She continued forward without giving him a chance to continue questioning her. After a few more minutes she approached a door. There she leaned down and put her eye into the retinal scanner which began scanning. When it completed the door slid open and revealed a black table surrounded by chairs. The room itself was dark with the lighting fixtures turned down to their minimal setting. He saw a shrouded figure sitting at the far end of the table he appeared to have his head in his arms. Teyla took a seat as the door clicked shut. As he took his own seat next to her he saw that the man wasn't sleeping as he thought but reading a file.

"Colonel Sheppard your test results are very promising."

"Thank you," John replied as the door opened again admitting two others who took seats near the man. They whispered back and forth and John quickly identified one of the voices as Rodney McKay's.

"Good we're all here now," the figure at the end of table pushed a button causing the lights to come on quickly and in full force illuminating the two people John didn't know in the room.

John quickly discovered that he did know the man he was the supreme allied commander for all allied forces in the European theatre. General Scott Mitchell was a highly decorated officer and a former Ghost himself John had studied some of his ops during training in order to see how he operated when his team was unavailable.

The other person John did not recognize but judging by who she had been talking he guessed it was Doctor Halsey. She looked to be in her early thirties or late twenties. She had taken off her lab coat and left it on the chair showing off her fading tan, she had her hair cut short and was still whispering with McKay. Her clothes looked like something he'd expect a college student to be wearing not a renowned scientist.

Mitchell fixed some papers and eyed the scientists, "Doctors are you prepared?"

Rodney turned to the General a look of panic on his face Mitchell had obviously done something to Rodney in the past, "What? Now? I thought we were going after your briefed him?"

Cortana giggled at Rodney's panic, "He means after Rodney he just wants to make sure we're prepared."

"Oh yes we're ready."

"This is not a budgeting or review board meeting you do not have to worry Doctor." Mitchell turned to back to John, "Ok this is last chance you have to back out if you remain than you must complete the mission."

"I understand."

General Mitchell smiled at the two, "Would you like to give this briefing Agent Emmagan?"

She smiled, "I'm sure you're fully capable of doing so."

Mitchell passed four folders around the table which the others ignored while John opened it and began reading the contents. "The Chinese are having a summit to discuss their future military operations. Most of their leadership will be attending so this is an obvious target for us."

"Are we killing them, kidnapping or just surveillance?" John flipped through a couple pages looking for some answers to the other questions going through his head.

"Killing them all the second in commands that aren't there will take command but they will hopefully be worse and even if they aren't it's going to cause some disorganization. Have you ever heard of the Wraith?"

"Not that I know of."  
"They're a special ops group very brutal they've wiped out entire villages just to cover their tracks."

Realization dawned on him, "We've crossed paths before actually."

"You survived?"

"I was the only one they took out my entire unit but my bird went down near a river so I went down that and managed to escape the others weren't so lucky."

"Well they're also known for using drugs in order to improve eyesight, reaction time, and pain threshold."

"Side-effects?" John glanced at the others wondering why they weren't asking questions but by the bored looks on their faces he realized this was entirely for him.

"Paranoia is the primary one you need to be concerned with they suffer from others but none that will aid you."

"What else do they suffer from?"

Teyla flipped a page over and read from it, "Decreased sex drives, headaches, paranoia, heart attack."

Mitchell continued with his briefing when she finished, "Your job will be to infiltrate this summit and take out the leaders how you accomplish that is up to you."

"The Wraith frequently patrol and will often shoot at nothing and if you get caught by them good luck they have quick reaction times and they will swarm over you in seconds after contact."

"How are we supposed to get around these guys?" he didn't like the sound of the Wraith already and he knew that they were very lethal.

"Well fortunately they aren't meticulous record keepers and are known to drink heavily so if we kill a few they won't be missed." Teyla smiled at the thought remembering some of her previous ops against the Wraith.

"But I assume they're going to be heavily armed and armored I would expect that they're not going to go down easily."

"Correct and they patrol in groups often so you're going to need to engage them quickly and quietly."

John raised a questioning eyebrow "Hand to hand?" John knew that his chances against multiple opponents as deadly as the Wraith were slim to none.

"That's where we come in we've got something that will help you level the playing field significantly," Cortana smiled.

"Not all fighting will be hand to hand much of the fighting will be with guns," Teyla added her eyes sliding over the folder to meet his.

"Doctors perhaps you could brief the Colonel on Project Thor." Mitchell sat back in his chair and prepared for the final briefing for one of largest R&D projects. He had heard about it way back when it was first discussed and only a few scientists were working on it and then again when it had been fully staffed and now it back down to a few working long days and nights to finish it up.

The two scientists stood up in front of the screen. "This is Project Thor," an image appeared behind them. It rotated 360 degrees around and began displaying the projects specs.

"What is it?"

"We call it Beliskner and it's the most advanced armor in the world." The screen zoomed in on the helmet and began dissecting it. "Beliskner integrates with your brain and can significantly improve your reaction time, durability in combat, strength, accuracy."

John looked impressed by the list of generic improvements, "What kind of protection does it offer?"

Rodney responded as the screen switched down from the head to his upper torso, "We've managed to get some very weak shields on it they should stop a couple of rounds before they give out and after that you've got some good protection but you really don't want to put this thing in combat. Beliskner also has an adaptive camouflage system and it will change color based on its surroundings."

"Sounds good when can I try it?"

"It's not totally effective while the technology is very high level it's not very refined and most of the systems aren't going to survive very long under fire."

John nodded as the screen moved down to the leg pieces.

"You can come down to the lab after the meeting and I'll fit you for it," Cortana said as they took their seats.

* * *

The meeting had continued for an hour after the official unveiling of Project Thor after which Teyla, Rodney, and General Mitchell had left for other briefings and meetings leaving Cortana to take John down to the lab. The trip down to the lab was long and relatively uneventful she appeared uncomfortable around him and wasn't interested in engaging him in conversation.

They arrived outside another door that was secured by another retinal scanner which she accessed, the door swished open a second later admitting them access. The only illumination came from the computer screens that were scattered around the room. She led him down another level towards the lower level of the lab. The lower level was filled with larger machines which sat ominously dark. He noticed a few Styrofoam coffee cups sitting on them and laughed as quietly as he could. "We've managed to avoid being forced into keeping a 'clean lab'."

They continued on forward around a few of the larger machines. When he rounded the corner he saw two stands holding something up however it was too dark for him to make out any definite shapes. He unconsciously quickened his pace with anticipation and as they neared it motion sensitive lights began to activate. When the lights activated he was able to clearly see make out what it was. One of the pieces of armor looked to be designed for him and was jet black. "The other one is for Teyla?"

"Yeah but we need to make sure this one fits and the interface works well with you." She circled around the armor inspecting it for any faults. "Strip," she commanded cooly.

His head snapped away from the armor and back to her, "Shouldn't we have dinner or something first?"

She smiled and giggled, "I don't like to waste time." She said handed him a jumpsuit and pointed to an adjoining room.

When he emerged she had moved the armor to a nearby table. "Stand over there," she pointed over to a slightly raised platform a few feet away.

When he stepped on it the platform rose a several feet into the air, "Uh what's going on?"

"Just stand still or I'll get Rodney down here to do this," she said grabbing one the boot pieces and heading over to him. she placed it next to his foot, "Slowly insert your foot and you should feel it contracting and expanding to match your foot." As he slowly put his foot in she went back and retrieved a piece of lower leg armor. "Relax its going to mold itself to your body," she was right and a moment later it perfectly fit around his leg.

* * *

"And now just the helmet," they both visibly relaxed almost done. She lowered him to the floor and gently placed it on his head and activated it.

"Nothing," he started before he saw the screen turn on and his brain felt like ice water was poured into his head. The HUD popped displaying a black bar in the lower left hand corner and bunch of text higher up on the left.

"What are you seeing?"

"There's some weird numbers on the left and black bar below that," he said as screen in the upper right appeared showing him inside the suit.

"You should see some more things popping up like a health/status display and an objective arrow," as she told him an orange arrow appeared a few feet away near one of the ominous machines.

"Yeah."

"Head over to the marker and take it slow you aren't used to the armor," he moved his right foot forward and nearly tore every muscle in his leg.

"ARGGH," she smiled sheepishly at him.

"I warned you but it shouldn't take you long to get used to it." John took her advice and slowly moved over to the machine.

She activated it from her position across the room and he saw a thin little layer form against his armor on the status readout. "That's a small energy shield like we said it should only work for a shot or two before it fails but hopefully that's enough."

End Chapter 5

A/N- It's going to take me longer to update now that schools in full swing but what'd you think of Anise and Cameron Mitchell?


	6. Gear

Chapter 6

A/N just finished up Deception Point so I'll be including some of that Military Tech (Improvised Munitions) into this.

"What other equipment do I get?"

The general light-heartedness and joy were immediately drained from Cortana's features, "Well the mission only has one other required piece of equipment."

A sense of foreboding filled him and he regretted asking his next question, "What?"

"That," she pointed over to a crate at the other end of the lab far away from her own workstation. He headed over to the crate and as he approached a sensor appeared and locked on to the crate with a quick analysis of what it contained. He didn't understand most of what it was saying and she must have noticed his confusion, "It's a thermonuclear weapon."

He stopped dead in his tracks and spun about facing her. Although she couldn't see his face she knew that he was sitting there gaping at her.

She avoided walking near the weapons not out of fear but of distaste, "You'll each be carrying one they're clean enough although they still lack the precision of my prototypes.

"How…How are we going to uh launch them?" he turned back looking at the readouts and began understanding what it meant by total destructive power, megatons, elemental composition.

"You're going to drop them right on top of the bunker like I said they're pretty clean for nukes but you'll need to get out of their pretty quickly in order to survive."

"Why are we using nuclear weapons I thought those were useless?" He remembered the opening days of the war and the missile defense shields.

"I tried to get them to use a better explosive like a Kinetic Strike or have the Europeans use one of their Orbital Lasers."

"But they wouldn't?"

"No I tried to get them to allow you to use something else and unfortunately they didn't listen."

He nodded knowing that he wasn't in charge of the mission and these calls were made by people with a lot more power than he had. "Kinda small though."

"Yes don't worry they won't slow you down to much but they still pack enough of a punch."

He stood there in his imposing armor for a few minutes staring at the nuclear weapons he'd be forced to carry. "Anything else?"

She flashed him a wicked smile, "Oh yeah come check these out."

He crossed the lab over to her in a few quick strides, "what?"

She tapped a button on the side of one of the gargantuan black machines which hissed open. The inside was bathed in a soft green light and the shelves were filled with weapons.

"Prototypes are in the front weapons being prepared for experimental field use behind those and weapons currently in service in the way back. I recommend that you take at least one from the back in order to insure that you always have something that will work."

He picked up the first weapon he saw and easily hefted the snow camouflaged assault rifle with one hand. The weapon felt weightless in his hand and after a second delay he saw a reticule appear on his HUD indicating where he was aiming. She pointed over to the side of the room where a firing range sat in darkness. "Where's the light switch?"

She smiled putting on a pair of night vision goggles herself, "You visor will adjust."

He momentarily wondered how to sight the weapon and it instinctively zoomed in several times. He smiled noting that the magnification he was getting on the visor was several times that of the weapons actual scope.

He depressed the trigger and was surprised when the reticule slightly expanded showing the projected spread with recoil. "So what makes this one different from what I normally use?"

"That weapon takes advantage of our new Improvised Munitions research. Basically if you take it into the Arctic it'll fire snow bullets, the desert glass bullets, water liquid giving you a virtually unlimited supply of ammo." She handed him a pistol like weapon, "This is a laser based weapon and it can feed off of your suit's power supply." He depressed the trigger and a dot appeared the target slowly burning away the target.

"Doesn't seem that effective."

"Not designed for anti-personnel combat it's designed to be used against non biological targets."

He took another weapon it looked similar to an AUG-A3 although its barrel was a few centimeters shorter and a suppressor was attached. When he fired it downrange he noticed the lack of recoil and a few lights flickered around the range. His armor blared a warning indicating it was detecting an electro-magnetic pulse in the area. "It's designed to be used inside compounds and bases so that you can attack a target as well as preventing them from broadcasting any kind of distress or alarm signal which would give away your presence and spoil the ambush."

"Nice toys but do you have anything else?"

She smiled, "I think I'm going to like you."

He laughed, "You don't already?"

She handed him a small round grenade, "once activated this thing will stick to any surface."

"Won't it stick to my hand?"

"Your shield will protect you but yes normal troops are unable to use it."

He threw it down range and it detonated causing his shields to flare and a few more warnings blared loudly inside his helmet. "Should come in handy."

She walked him back over to the weapon racks and let him go wild.

* * *

John had taken a likening to a prototype pistol and had had it fitted for him. As he walked around the base armed with the weapon he hadn't gotten nearly as many concerned glances as he would have normally expected but Agents always carried weapons and they seemed to be a large number of them stationed there. "Sheppard what gun you carrying around with ya?"

He turned to see Anise jogging to catch up with him, "I don't know the real name but its some kind of prototype."

She caught up with him and they resumed walking, "What special features did she put on it?"

"How did you?"

She smiled, sometimes she forgot how close they all were to each other, "You're working with Teyla and Cortana makes all of Teyla's gear."

"Silenced, High penetration and power, low recoil, and it has a laser microphone attached to it so I can listen into conversation and radio chatter from range."As he finished extolling it he realized he no longer knew where they were going.

She took him into another room which he realized was another firing range, "Show me."

They lined up next to each other with their targets down range; a timer sounded three times. He squeezed off the first round and heard a faint pssh as the suppressor contained most of the sound. He began firing in rapid succession however unlike before he was forced to compensate manually for recoil. When the buzzer sounded again and they had their targets returned he noticed that a few of his rounds had drifted downwards to the targets chest, still a kill shot but his target would have longer to radio for backup. He placed his weapon back in its holster happy with his shooting.

"Very nice," she had moved over and was admiring his shooting.

"Thanks the gun certainly helps it doesn't have much recoil."

She grabbed his gun out of his holster and smiled replacing the target with a fresh one. She sent it down range and waited for the buzzer to sound, "I missed you."

"I'm sorry I didn't get to say goodbye."

"I don't blame you. I blame Teyla," The buzzer sounded and she fired through the rounds in half the time he had. When the target returned he saw that the spreads were about the same. "She never should have done that to you."

"She didn't know and I'm sure she suffered some form of punishment herself."

She replaced his gun back in its holster, "No if she did I wouldn't have been as angry with her but she wasn't punished at all."

"Really?"

"Why did you choose her?" A certain sadness filled her voice.

John became acutely aware of how close she was standing to him and how her hand still rested on his gun in its holster, "I don't know."

She tilted her head up staring into his eyes, "Are you together now?"

He covered her hand that was resting on his pistol, "No."

She reached up and touched her ear listening to a message on her radio, "Come on."

She smiled and held onto his hand as she moved away and towards the door. She led him through several twisting passageways when they ran into Teyla. Anise stepped back into John and reached back searching for his other hand, "Hello Teyla."

Teyla's face flushed red, "Leave her."

She found his other hand and held that one as well, "John's a big boy he can make his own decisions and unlike you he can accept the consequences of those decisions."

"Anise do not." Teyla warned the woman now wrapped in John's arms.

"Your two are not together and I care for him unlike you so why should I not?"

"He's still in love with me."

"What!?" John asked shocked at Teyla's claim.

"Do not lie John I have always been able to see through you," she delivered her statement with cold calculating precision which only served to cement John's opinion that she wouldn't be interested in any kind of long relationship with him or anyone else.

"Tey I'm sorry but I'm not looking for a relationship with you right now," he hoped that he hadn't said it too harshly but he needed to make sure he didn't fall for her again.

"Anise it's your mistake to make."

Mitchell approached Teyla from behind coming from the same meeting she had left a few minutes earlier, "Teyla leave them be."

Her eyes pleaded with him, "Cameron they're making a mistake."

"Even so she won't do anything like what you did."

She turned and faced Mitchell, "He is here for one reason and that is because I requested him."

"You don't want a relationship with him do you?"

She turned back to face them but Anise had taken the momentary distraction and they had disappeared.

His voice softened, "you do don't you?"

"No."

"Then let them date you should know that they do both care for each other."

"But they will end up hurting each other he fell in love with me not her."

Anger flashed in his eyes for a moment, "Stop living in the past."

"What do you mean?" She asked humbly.

"He fell for you once and you sacrificed him for your career why should he wait around for you? Especially since you say you don't want a relationship with him." Even as he turned around and left he wondered why Anise was with John he _knew _that they she wasn't interested in a relationship with him.

* * *

"Thank you for that," John said as she opened the door to her quarters.

"No problem."

"You should know that Teyla will hunt us down and should be on that door in about three minutes."

"What if she checks my room first?"

She laughed, "Five minutes."

John nodded and smiled at how completely different this day was turning out."

Anise headed over to dresser and picked up an old notebook which she handed to John. "I kept a journal of what happened after you left you might want to read it."

"Thank you," he opened it up to a random page and started reading.

_November 4__th_

_Teyla is in a particularly bad mood today she yelled for several minutes after a training exercise where we __tied __our best score. She had John kicked out a week ago and she doesn't seem to be getting any better. I miss him. I still don't have the full story but I know most of the rumors going around are wrong and should be corrected by the end of the week but a few are probably going to stick around for awhile. I'll have to take Teyla out bar hopping next week and get her drunk. Hopefully she'll come home with me and not some guy so that I can spend the entire night with her but even if she does hook up with someone I'll still have some time with a drunk Teyla. _

He heard Teyla pounding on the door. Anise shrugged as she opened the door, "What do you want?"

"I need him focused on the mission not on his new girlfriend."

"I can do both."

Anise turned to him, "No John you can't."

"What I thought you wanted this?"

She paused and chose her words carefully, "I don't want you to die."

John sighed and moved to exit the room when she stopped him, "Stay alive both of you."

* * *

Cam was eating a late night dessert when Anise walked in, "Do you really intend to start a relationship with him?"

"No," came her cool response as she took a seat across him.

"What was with the hand holding and looks?"

She smiled coyly, "I'm a good actor and the hand holding was simply me leading him."

"So you heading right for where Teyla was, was what an accident?"

"I admit I may have taken advantage of your intel."

"Think they'll start something?"

"Considering the fact that I just made her jealous and now they're going out in the field alone for the next few weeks I doubt she won't make a move."

"Well now he might not want to start one."

"Good point. Do they have any other flavors?"

"Vanilla's all that's left."

A/N: Hope you enjoyed and I get a mini vacation woot. I tried to cut down on the amount of endless dialogue but I don't think I was successful.


	7. Training

Chapter 7

John sat crouched waiting in the shadows as the guard slowly made his way out of the street light some twenty meters away. They'd been tracking this guard for almost ten minutes but the guard was finally going to be forced into darkness where he could be safely taken out. John prepped for his shot as his target lingered on the last remnants of light. The guard took his fateful step and emerged from the safety of the light and a moment later was greeted with two "bullets" in his back; he fell forward landing on his faceplate as his suit locked up upon registering a kill.

John stood up lowering his weapon when he saw his reflection in a window across street. In the reflection John saw another figure moving behind him. He froze for a second before his instincts kicked in: he spun around delivering a vicious elbow hit to his wrists. The guard yelped in pain as his wrists were broken and he dropped the gun however John ignored the scream and raised his gun firing three rounds into his stomach and chest. The guard crashed down onto the floor. John moved silently forward towards his and Teyla's rendezvous point. "All targets neutralized the six is clear."

She nodded, "Three patrolling guards one lags behind by a few meters and these guys are armed with night vision goggles."

"Any powerful light sources?"

"No shots from above and off to the side."

John nodded and they moved off to the ambush point.

He sat twenty meters above the ground balancing his weight between the two alley way walls. Teyla had chosen a perfect ambush point there was no light source around and the walls were close enough that he could rest between them and provide himself with a well concealed shooting point. Teyla had taken a position up on top of the rooftop a more comfortable location but if they missed they'd check the rooftops and since they had night vision goggles they'd easily see her.

John heard Teyla open her comm. channel, "Thirty seconds."

He thumbed the safety off and prepared for to take out the final set of perimeter guards. As predicted the first guard came into view shortly followed by the second. A timer appeared on screen counting down until Teyla would fire. It only lasted a few seconds before they both fired their first round simultaneously; the guard started falling to the ground when a second later another round impacted his helmet registering an instant kill. John and Teyla, who had already killed her target, both shifted fire to the remaining enemy who was hit by multiple bullets in his chest, head, arms, and legs.

Teyla keyed her comm. again, "All targets down." John moved over into the fire escape and began climbing down into the alleyway. He waited for Teyla to get down and when she arrived they policed the bodies and moved forward to their target.

They'd moved towards the building housing a simple computer that they needed to crack. The immediate exterior of the building wasn't guarded but they both knew better than to simply look for obvious guards. Teyla had positioned herself on a rooftop down the street from the target and was methodically checking every square inch for a possible enemy. John was slowly making his way through an underground sewer that would put him right behind the house.

"One target second floor balcony."

John noted the comment and consulted the building schematic. It showed several rooms on either side of a hallway which ran down the middle of the floor. That guard wouldn't be an immediate threat but John still wanted him taken out. "I'll be in position in one minute."

"Three targets just emerged onto the roof."

He paused just below the sewers covering, "Where are they looking?"

"Towards me, you're safe."

John slightly lifted up the lid of the sewer drain and slipped a snake cam up. The images seamlessly integrated into his HUD and showed him a dark back porch with two guards. John switched it over to thermals and saw that one of them was smoking while the other appeared to be sleeping. He knew he'd need to deal with those two guards but entering in through a ground floor entrance wasn't an appealing idea for him. He swung the snake cam around and managed to find a discarded ladder. "Two targets one's sleeping I'll be going through the back right second story window so take out the guard on the balcony first."

"Affirmative."

John slid the lid back and exploded upward in a flurry of motion. He jumped up onto the street and fortunately the guard failed to notice as John was shrouded in total darkness. He calmly brought his gun to bear on the smoking guard; he fired two silenced rounds into his chest. He switched over to the sleeping guard who had begun to stir and unleashed another couple of rounds. He scanned the area for any other targets and finding none John took the ladder and proceeded to climb up to the second floor balcony. "In position."

He heard the breaking of glass a moment later as the bullet slammed into it shattering it. He slammed through the glass and into a lavish bedroom. The room was empty however the adjacent rooms weren't and John immediately heard their occupants springing to action.

"One target is pinned on the roof, one is dead, and one is inside."

John brought up a map on his HUD located the stairwell and charged towards the right door which led into another bedroom. The door impacted a guard who had been about to enter John's room and after entering the room John dispatched him with a single shot to the head.

"How many are left?"

"Unknown but I've taken out another three and you've got guards emerging from nearby buildings and converging on your location."

He dropped the clip inside his pistol and swapped it out for fresh one. He primed a flash bang and slid it through the door. It detonated a moment later and John threw open the door and sprinted down the hallway to the target room. As he approached it he saw two guards slowly recovering from the effects of the grenade. He fired a few rounds into them without stopping and proceeded into the room.

"I'm in."

"My position is compromised I'll have to move in the next few minutes."

The room was bare bones a simple table and laptop sitting on it. John moved over and turned the computer around so that he could monitor the screen and the door. "Uploading program now," the program quickly finished uploading and fought its way through security protocols granting John access to the computer. While sifting through the data, John saw the door begin to open. He raised his pistol and opened fire through the thin wooden door. He calmly returned to the computer screen knowing the threat had subsided for a short time.

"Entering the building in five." Five seconds later Teyla crashed through a window, rolled, came up, secured the area. After ascertaining her situation she entered the hallway with all the subtlety of a bomb. She leveled her XM8 assault rifle and unleashed several short controlled bursts. When the final guard collapsed she swapped out clips and stepped over their collapsed bodies. "Hold fire," she said pushing open the door.

John quickly looked up to confirm that it was in fact her, "almost done." She nodded and shut the door behind her. She kept her gun slung around her neck, always prepared for a chance encounter.

"You've only got a few minutes before we're up to our necks in tangos."

He tapped a few keys as Teyla impatiently monitored the doorway and window for enemies. He removed the flash drive a minute or so later and stuck it into a pocket, "we're good."

Teyla looked through the bullet holes in the door and saw several guards lining up and preparing to breach the room. Deciding to avoid fighting she headed back over to the window and kicked it out. Without words she climbed out onto the roof. John immediately followed her outside and climbed out; exiting, the pair proceeded to the adjacent building. There they climbed down the back of the building and once on the ground floor they proceeded into the underground again.

They quickly and silently moved to their egress point.

* * *

"You really did a good job." Teyla said smiling at John.

"Thanks and you had some nice shooting," he said as he nursed his drink.

"I know that's the….5th time you've told me that…I think."

"I think we might be a little drunk," John said continuing to drink.

"Yes," Teyla said as a door nearby opened.

One of the guards entered the deserted mess hall, "You two could have been a little nicer about some of those kills."

"Hey if we wanted to be nicer about those shots we wouldn't have made them," Teyla and John both laughed.

"Had a little bit to drink have we?"

"Yeah _John _here thought we deserved to celebrate a bit," Teyla said placing her hand on John's arm and shifting closer to him.

John looked at the guard, "You got a problem with that?"

"No," the guard moved off grabbing a water before retreating from the room.

They both returned to their drinks although Teyla's arm remained on top of John's. Her fingers started slowly drawing circles on his arm. "Hey why don't you come back to my room?"

Before John could respond she swung her legs over him and captured his lips in a kiss. When the kiss quickly ended they both stood up shakily. Slowly and clearly drunk they both made their way to her quarters.

Stumbling down a hallway, laughing they literally bumped into someone.

"Oh sorry," Teyla said laughing warmly at him.

"Emmagan, Sheppard? What are you two doing together?"

"I'm sorry who are you?" Teyla asked dumbfounded about how someone knew her and John's name. John simply stood there with a puzzled look on his face.

"Where are you two going?" His voice was tinted with a slight hint of anger.

Teyla smiled at him, "_my room."_

The man appeared unfazed by her demeanor, tone, and words, "and whose idea is that?"

"With all due respect who the hell are you?" John draped his arm around Teyla.

John's question simply angered him, "whose idea is this?"

"Mine," Teyla answered leaning on John for support.

"So you had him kicked out for fraternization and you're the one who's initiating this relationship?"

Teyla's eyes narrowed, "who are you?"

"Your boss," he responded his voice deadpan.

She arrogantly smiled, "you don't look like Scott."

"Fisher, Sam Fisher." Sam responded with a slight smile.

Teyla and John both stopped laughing as the name registered.

End Chapter7

A/N Sorry I don't think I did them being drunk very well of course I've never been drunk or around anyone who was drunk for any time.


	8. Director Fisher

Chapter 8

A/N Thanks for the reviews

They stood there in shock at being face to face with the legendary Sam Fisher. He predated the current agency and few knew what he looked like; those that did were generally either dead, retired, or in some powerful government office. Fisher had powerful friends and no one crossed him even the up and coming idealistic senators. Rumors abounded about Fisher some said he was once a fugitive, others that he was an assassin, terrorist, murderer, patriot, and spy. They were all either right or cover identities but actual details about them were few and far between. Only his closest friends knew the full and complete truth.

He turned his desired effect achieved, "Emmagan follow me."

Her eyes somehow managed to go wider, "sir yes sir."

He smiled and headed towards the elevators that would take him down into the bowels of the city. He took out a blackberry and shot off a message to his assistant. Teyla followed him in silence every step dreading the words that would come out of his mouth.

"Sir, I'm sorry sir."

His gaze was cold and penetrating. "Don't apologize it's a sign of weakness. I didn't train my agents to be weak."

"I should have recognized you sir."

The elevator doors opened onto one of the lowest floors, "Drop the sir."

Teyla once again followed Sam without speaking.

* * *

"Take these," Sam told Teyla handing her a cup and a few pills.

"Director?" she said downing the pills and water.

"I've found it's a very good combination for both being drunk and the ensuing hang over."

Teyla sat down opposite the director's simplistic desk. The office was simplistic with a large closet and filing cabinets taking up the majority of the space. He had one computer on the desk along with a TV in the corner. The office was clearly not somewhere this man liked to be and she could tell that he didn't spend most of his time there.

"I'm disappointed in you agent Emmagan."

"I'm sorry, we were drunk and we had a momentary lapse in judgment."

Fisher simply nodded, "When?"

"I'm sorry?"

"When did you have that momentary lapse in judgment? Tonight or all those years ago?"

"I…What?"

"You were clearly very intent on sleeping with him. Was your mistake having him kicked out or for what you wanted to do tonight?"

"Tonight."

"When you get back to his room tell John I want to see him."

"I...What...I wasn't going back to his room."

Sam just looked at her a doubtful look on his face.

* * *

John knocked twice on the door and was about to for a third time when it opened from within.

"Sir I'd like to apologize about before…"

"No need John, do you mind if I call you John?"

"No, sir."

"You can drop the sir." Sam smiled he'd taken an interest in John from before he was even recruited into the program.

John shifted in his seat uneasily.

"Look John, I've gotta know if this Teyla thing is going to be a problem."

"I'm sorry about earlier tonight I was drunk and…"

"I understand Sheppard she's a beautiful woman and based on how you ended up getting kicked out of the program I'd imagine you might still have feelings for her."

"We're partners it would have been a mistake."

"Just don't let it interfere with your mission afterwards I could care less what you two do."

"Thank you for not taking any further punishment at training."

"Sheppard if I had my way you would have stayed and graduated, and if you survive this I've got a job in this department for you."

"Thank you."

"I wouldn't trust her. My program knows how to make amazing operatives but they aren't very good at some of the social aspects of the job."

"You must have heard the rumors."

Sam nodded, "In that regard yes, but try and put them in a tux and sit them down at a white house dinner."

"I understand sir."

"Dismissed, remember though if you make it back alive you've got a job."

"Do you know when I'm leaving?"

"We're prepping everything right now."

John nodded and left.

* * *

John opened the door to his room, "What did you tell him?"

He stopped dead in the entrance, "Relax I told him nothing."

Teyla swung her legs off the bed and onto the floor, "Good."

"Our mission starts in a few days so can we take a break on the training and rest up?"

"We can take a break on the training but I don't think you'll be resting too much," Sheppard realized that she was still lying on his bed.

He smiled, "I think you should go."

She jumped up to her feet surprised at his rejection of her obvious offer. She opened her mouth to speak a few times but found herself at a loss for words when confronted with John's stoic face and iron words. She decided to simply leave, "I wasn't offering…"

"Agent Teyla Emmagan I am tired please leave and allow me some sleep."

The formality and pseudo-accent he used when saying it confused her and she simply left in a daze.

* * *

Teyla, John, Mitchell, Cortana, and Rodney stood inside one of the fortresses massive hanger bays overlooking the ocean. The hangers were usually filled with aircraft of all sorts from tried and true aircraft to the latest experimental airframes that weren't even finished. This hanger was smaller than most and was usually much less populated. It was used solely for fifth Echelon operations. The little group was clustered around a pair of tiny vehicles; the vehicles were painted grayish-blue. They were an interesting design; they had been originally envisioned to provide a low cost means of inserting infantry onto the battlefield however the project eventually cost too much for it to prove to be cost effective. They were still around however and for an operation involving a long range, high risk, stealthy insertion no other vehicle existed that would prove better. They were capable of seating only one person and considering the speeds at which they normally travelled they needed to have a fully enclosed capsule, however John and Teyla would be inserting with Beliskner so those capsules had been removed and hard points had been attached for extra gear

"Are you serious?!" John gaped at the tiny vehicles.

"Very," Rodney replied annoyed at being questioned especially by this newbie who had been pulled out of Africa.

Teyla turned to her longtime friend, "Cortana are you sure we'll be safe?"

"Beliskner will keep you safe."

"How safe?" Teyla asked before John could respond with a remark of his own.

"Safe enough," Rodney said dismissively.

"Oh that makes me feel completely safe."

"We drop in two days tomorrow you can do whatever you want, after that it's game time."

The party dispersed as they each went about their separate ways.

* * *

John slept in and upon awakening listened to the Johnny Cash songs on his computer.

Teyla mediated on her coming mission.

Rodney and Cortana retreated back to their lab to continue on their numerous projects.

Mitchell continued waging mankind's greatest war.

Fisher managed his agencies affairs and waded through mountains of reports from the agencies satellites, agents, moles, intercepts, and numerous other intelligence sources.

* * *

They both received a page at the same time from Cortana to head down to the lab. They entered and headed over to the armor that they both were now familiar with. Cortana, Rodney and a team of technicians quickly began putting their armor on.

* * *

Once fully suited up they headed top side and entered the weapons bay of a waiting B-2 Spirit. The modified airplane was designed solely for this kind of mission, an insertion via the pods, they would be incredibly cramped on the flight; in order to give them slight comfort they would be sedated for the majority of the trip. As they strapped themselves, gear, and the warheads on John took his helmet off. Teyla noticed John's approach and when she saw his helmet in his hands she took her own off, "Hey good luck out there."

She smiled to herself, "and you John."

He saw warmth in her eyes that he had sorely missed in the years since their final date.

She recognized the emotions running through her; it wasn't unknown for them to become slightly emotional before a dangerous mission. She replaced her helmet as John stepped back and returned to his craft. They both mounted their crafts and she saw his life sign fluctuate slightly as he administered the sedative, "Spin them up." She said before administering her own. Unconsciousness followed a few seconds later.

***

John slowly came to and saw the small, dark, cramped interior of the modified bomber. He saw Teyla was doing what she could to move around and he clicked on his comm. channel, "How much longer?"

"Few minutes," she replied mechanically. They both had their game faces on and any trace of the former familiarity and warmth was gone, replaced with cold precision. "You cut it close."

A red light blinked on in front of them indicating that they were twenty minutes out. They quickly checked everything they could re-secured their gear and strapped in tightly. They waited in silence for the light to change again. When it did they went through their final preparations increasing shock absorbers, shields, and heating/cooling systems to their in flight status.

* * *

The pilots had passed most of the flight with card games but now with the shores of Israel only a few miles away, the target zone even closer and Russian fighters on the prowl. They increased their speed as they entered their final approach and turned on the final green light indicating that they had less than five minutes before the doors would open and they'd drop.

* * *

John heard the bomb bay doors open and a looked left at Teyla. He saw her craft detach and start to drop. His stomach dropped as his craft entered free fall.

Her visor immediately tinted itself to help her transition from the dark interior of the bomber to the open sky. It wasn't very bright out and the sun was already dipping below the sky with just barely enough light left for her to see a coastline below and in front of her, but all that dropped from her consciousness when she heard an explosion behind her.

John heard a roar erupt behind him a few seconds after exiting the craft.

The B-2 pilots silently put their aircraft in a slow bank and began the long journey home.

End Chapter 8


	9. Drop Zone

A/N- Sorry about taking so long to update I've been swamped with work and am balancing a few other projects which I should hopefully get up within the next few months.

Start Chapter 9

John felt the engine activate and the craft surged forward; a quick look to his left confirmed that Teyla was also rocketing across the sky with him. He looked down onto the sparkling Mediterranean and then ahead to Israel. The acceleration crushed him and he heard the wind rushing past the outside of his suit. He checked his vitals which were good and he quickly pulled up Teyla's and saw that they were also in the normal range. He angled his aircraft a few degrees north and settled more comfortably against the craft in preparation for the long journey ahead. He relaxed against it, and looked out over the glistening ocean and ahead to the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula. A waypoint popped up on the HUD indicating distance to target, and the ETA. His velocity, acceleration, altitude, outside temperature, and air pressure, all appeared on a side scrolling screen. As they edged over Israeli territory and away from the radioactive remains of Saudi Arabia he picked up radio signals and pulled up his radar cross section. It was around the size of a small rock and satisfied that he wouldn't be detected and shot down looked back down at the beautiful scenery.

"Radiation, spike south by south east," She chirped in over a secure comm. link.

"Shouldn't prove much of a threat these things should be hardened against that stuff. I certainly didn't sign up for a suicide mission."

She remained silent but remained on course.

Despite the high speed he didn't feel any of it and heard virtually none of it and he slowly relaxed again. Unlike the uncomfortable bomber he wasn't able to sleep as he had to make any corrections the small on board computer couldn't. He sat there clinging to the small X-craft for life for the next several hours continually monitoring everything about his craft and hoping that no one detected them and decided to shoot them down. His suit picked up some chatter from Israeli comm. links but he didn't have anything to crack the encryption and so he discarded it and shut down the transmitter for everything but a message from Teyla.

***

Approaching the Afghani border he checked his radar cross section again and attempted to reduce it slightly by hugging the X-craft longer. Only 1 hour out he began dropping down and picking up speed in order to hit the landing zone as fast and hard as possible. The latest bit of satellite intel indicated that there might be some enemy forces in the area and he didn't want to come in as a slow target for them to take out. He felt his suit adjusting to the difference in pressure and focused on angling his aircraft perfectly, he noticed that Teyla was doing the same albeit at a slightly steeper angle to hit her own DZ.

***

John prepped to exit the clouds he was using to mask his approach. He took a deep breath and sent his aircraft into a very steep dive hoping to pick up as much speed as possible; cloud cover had prevented any additional satellite intel and he was flying blind so he wanted to hit it with as much speed as possible in order to give any enemies the smallest window of opportunity before he could switch over and begin dealing with them.

"On my mark, 3…2...1 MARK," She shouted over the radio before she dropped down into her flight path.

As he dropped out of the clouds, he spotted an enemy patrol a few clicks north of his DZ, he used all remaining power in the X-Craft to rocket into the ground. He felt like he was riding a Tomahawk Cruise Missile towards its final destination but as he dropped to the designated altitude he pulled the parachute and lifted off the sled, he knew that based on his speed and altitude the landing would hurt. A lot. But he hoped the suit would compensate and protect him enough that he wouldn't die or break any bones.

He hit the dirt and collapsed, he felt pain shooting throughout his body but his suit showed that he hadn't actually broken anything, it might not have felt that way but he had bigger problems. He got up and moved over to the X-Craft where the weapon locker was. He entered the code into it and pulled out the weapons, they synched up to his suit and brought up a targeting reticule. He knew that so much would hinge on these precious moments where he and Teyla were vulnerable. He opened a comm. link to her immediately, "Teyla you good?"

"I am fine."

"You see them?"

"A few clicks north yeah, we should probably set up an ambush they should be coming to investigate."

"They should be coming through a valley, we could avoid them."

"We can't let them fully report back," he knew that she really hated these people and liked taking them out.

"We blow the vehicles and they'll think it was just some missiles or drones that crashed."

"Set the charges for 30 seconds."

John just nodded and set them glad that she was listening to his advice.

Quickly moving up the valley they scrambled over the sides hoping that the enemy troops would head through it rather than climb up in and gain the high ground They stuck together and hoped that they wouldn't be spotted by anyone. Looking up at the sky they saw that the cloud cover would soon lift and would enable satellite imagery again which would vastly improve their odds of getting near the compound without being detected.

"We're going to have to make camp somewhere nearby and wait for nightfall to move out again.

"I spotted a patch somewhere near here."

John remembered back to his fall, but couldn't think of any suitable camp sites, "Alright you lead."

"See that ridge?"She pointed to a ridge that extended up it was close but would still take a couple hours to climb.

"Ok, we should have satellite available soon; those clouds look about ready to break."

"Won't matter we won't be getting anymore Intel they can't risk them detecting the signal and using it to pinpoint your location."

"This mission just keeps getting better and better."

"No turning back now."

They moved out into the underbrush moving towards the ridge slowly but with a relatively low risk of detection as they hoped to reach their target without being spotted, engaged, and possibly killed.

***

They made it to the top of the ridge without any contacts and sighing with relief Teyla pointed out spot she had seen from the air.

"Looks good, I like it."

"I am glad you approve."

"We're going a little slow now but we should be able to make it up at night once their visibility is shot to hell."

"Yeah, of course we need sleep eventually and we should find a very good camp for tomorrow morning."

"Yeah, but unfortunately we can't use any of the caves here as they have an extensive network of tunnels in them."

John nodded and moved out, with her covering his quick dash to the next bit of cover. They were able to get close to the cover relatively quickly, but once they got close it would be difficult to focus on protecting themselves and creating a cold camp quickly. They constructed their shelter quickly and once that and defensive positions, and a network of sensors were established they entered the shelter and headed into it, they held their positions for a little while neither really willing to believe the mission was going this easy.

First they heard them. Then they sensors went off. Finally they saw them. A large patrol was moving through the area with all the stealth of a charging wildebeest but that wasn't the important part, that was their proximity and direction. They were going to quickly reach the campsite and shortly after that they would have to fight them.

"Run?"

She shook her head, "no time they'd see the camp and know something was up, judging by their direction I'd assume that it's the same guys that we encountered before." Teyla paused for a second thinking, "you plant the claymores, I will do some recon and see if there are any stragglers and if so I'll take 'em out." She yanked her pistol free of the holster and checked the clip to make sure it was full.

John went to nod but remembered she wouldn't be able to notice the action, "roger that, moving out."

Teyla moved out of their make shift shelter, and headed out in the direction of the approaching troops. She switched over to thermal vision and watched the troops as they moved haphazardly towards her. She saw that they were clearly untrained and weren't moving in any kind of formal military formation.

A team split off the main group and headed in a wide arc around the camp area. She sent the images of the three men in a row to John and followed. She set up several meters down their path, drew her pistol and waited for them to close the distance. She waited silent, deadly, and nearly invisible as they got closer and closer. She took aim at the furthest guard and pulled her knife out for the closest guard. She fired a round into his head, her modifications kept the weapons signature low enough that the guards didn't notice. She shifted her aim to the second guard and quickly pulled the trigger, once than twice. As the two bullets slammed into him she dropped the gun, used her free hand to cover the remaining guards mouth as she slid the knife across his throat.

"Three targets down, they were attempting to flank you."

John's acknowledgement light winked once as he continued focusing on the mines.

"They had grenades, don't blow the mines we'll use them for something else."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, these guys are easy use their own grenades against 'em and we should be fine."

Teyla threw a pair of the stolen ordnance over to John's location and then moved back out beyond their projected paths. She knew John would hold his fire until she gave him the go ahead. Her position allowed her easy access to cut off any attempted escape route and she would have easy shots at their flanks.

"Thirty seconds," she established a joint timer for them both counting down to when she wanted him to open fire.

It seemed to take longer and longer for each second to tick off but as the timer slid from one to zero. When it finally did John through the two grenades into the heart of the formation, he waited a few seconds and heard four explosions quickly followed up by two more. Even as explosions ripped through the formation John was up and firing, the majority of the patrol had their attention focused on the grenades, big mistake he thought as he targeted the first guard he saw and opened fire. The guard went down easily with a single shot to the head, as did the second, third, and fourth.

Teyla had procured one of the enemy's assault rifles and had decided to use it and save her ammo. The AK-47 was durable although not the most accurate weapon, so she fired it very short bursts cutting down her opponents. They heard and were able to see the Kalashnikov better than John's pistol and so they turned around and began pouring fire into her area; she was safely behind cover, but their efforts forced her to cease firing. John seized upon the opportunity to charge the guards; he holstered his pistol and drew his knife. He threw a knife at the nearest guard and prepared to punch out the other one even as his knife first impacted its target. As it did so John used his free hand to gather it up again and prepare it for another target, Teyla had taken that opportunity to peak back out and opened up on the remaining few guards cutting them down.

The engagement was over, leaving just John and Teyla standing.

"We need to move; they could have radioed our position and called for reinforcements."

A full moon broke through the clouds casting an eerie glow on them, and in that pale moonlight they set out fully alert for any threat.

A/N- Thank you, hope you enjoyed. Reviews are appreciated.


	10. The beginning of the End

Chapter 10

A/N Kind of a short boring chapter with nothing really happening, but hey it's necessary before I can get to some Wraith scenes.

The trek through the mountains was generally uneventful, as they managed to make it through without enemy contact, at dawn they once again had to set up a camp. The camp was well concealed and they didn't have to deal with any threats so they attempted to grab some sleep while they had some downtime. Teyla woke first, and dressed in the early morning light. She admired John's sleeping form, she remembered when she had awoken after their first time, he had looked so happy so contented; now she could tell he didn't sleep as well, he seemed to be mumbling in his sleep although she couldn't discern what he was actually saying. She hadn't intended to care for him at all, she knew that the mission would likely call for at least one of them to die, and so John had seemed like an obvious choice not only would be capable, but she knew that he wouldn't have any qualms about sacrificing himself for the mission. She shook her head, the war already had enough dead heroes and usually someone's sacrifice like John's would be plastered across every newspaper, but his would be classified and no one would ever get to learn of his actions.

She walked over to him almost fully clad in her armor, she left the gloves off as she didn't want to hurt him when she woke him, "John it's dusk you need to get ready."

He stirred lightly under her touch, but once partly awake he snapped up. "We clear?"

"Yes, but it's time to move."

He nodded and stood up looking around for where he had left his armor. "I'll go do a perimeter sweep," she said pulling on her gloves.

As she moved off John spotted her bag next to her former bed. She hadn't fully divulged everything about the mission yet, so he decided to take a look. Inside he found the detonators, timers, extra ammo, and a PDA. He understood everything but the PDA, it didn't really make sense everything needed on the mission was stored in the suit so why would she need a PDA? It would present a huge risk in the event that they accidentally left it behind.

He opened it up and was surprised to find that all it had was a simple password lock, it was clearly a low security item no actual value to the enemy or it would have had far more robust security devices. He knew what her password would be for something like this, the name of her old friend who had died a few months after she entered training. He typed in Charin and logged on. The desktop clued him into the fact that it wasn't government issued; she had clearly bought this for her own personal use. He thumbed through it quickly as he continued to move around putting on other pieces of his suit, sans the gloves. It was trying to establish an internet signal, but he quickly killed that function; he hoped it hadn't given away their position.

He saw her tax records, old mission logs, other random information that she had probably stored on their for old missions and never deleted, he saw a PowerPoint labeled "Echelon Mission Review." He came across casualty rates, news stories, and finally a journal. At first he was surprised she had kept one, but after thinking about it he realized that they had been encouraged to do so and many kept it as an insurance policy. In the event of her murder she probably had it sent to either a friend at the Agency or someone else she trusted.

He opened it hoping to see if it contained any information about this, he scrolled down to the latest entries. He jumped up and saw some personal notes on the development of the armor, a thing or two about Rodney, and a few things about Cortana. Her updates were few and far between, but just as he was getting to the end of the development and his recruitment, he sensed her return. He stuffed it back in the bag and pulled out an extra pistol clip hoping that the distraction would work. "Mind if I take an extra clip?"

"No go ahead," Teyla knew what he had been doing, but she had no idea how far he'd gotten or what'd he read so he pretended to buy his excuse hoping that he would ignore what he had read, and she would ignore what he had done.

She slung the bag over her shoulder, "We need to pick up the pace."

He ignored her comment and followed her, keeping whatever pace she set.

***

They neared the peak of a mountain, climbing it had been dangerous and potentially very lethal, but they had taken the risk in order to make up some more time and it had worked so far, they had already caught up to where they should have been and if the descent proved to be as successful they would easily surpass their time giving them extra time when they were close to the wraith.

Teyla raised her hand silent signaling John to stop. He was about to question it when a blue nav marker appeared on his HUD; he zoomed in on it and saw gunfire, it appeared to be European Kommandos engaging some of the locals. "We should help them."

"John," she groaned.

"We're making good time and it would probably help relations if we helped them out."

"We'd risk blowing the op if there's a spy and if they pass it along to the Chinese that we're out here…"

"I still say it's a risk worth taking."

"Fine," she ground out and altered her course down the valley to aid the Kommandos.

As John continued to watch the fire fight he noticed that the Kommandos were guarding something inside the cave they were holed up at.

"They're guarding something, probably sensitive or they'd have called in some sort of support by now."

"Hopefully they'll share."

***

They reached a ridge just above the remaining Kommandos position, they had managed to hold out for awhile despite having no support, reinforcements, and facing overwhelming numbers. Teyla planned to stay back and provide sniper fire while John had moved up closer and prepared to unleash hell on them with his assault rifle. The mission timer started up again at thirty seconds and John sighted his target.

Teyla had already chosen hers, an enemy commander directing the attack from behind the lines. Just before the timer hit zero she pulled the trigger sending the bullet on its way. As it hit zero her shot hit the mark and John sprang into action dropping two guards within seconds. Teyla re-centered her Barrett and moved onto her next target. She pulled it again and felt the massive rifle recoil. She saw John's head camera showing what he was looking at; John was quickly approaching the European troops and she held her breath waiting to see if they'd attack. They didn't. She released her breath and returned her attention to the enemies. She spotted one of their snipers along a back ridge and executed him with lethal precision.

John stood up, sprinted over to another formation of rocks, dropped back down, and scanned for more targets. He saw Teyla was trying to hit a pair that had taken cover behind the same group of boulders. He slung his rifle and pulled out his silenced pistol; he crept around the boulder they were hiding behind, he shifted his weight and began inching around the boulder exposing only the righter most portion of his body to possible fire. He held his fire as the first guard came into view and once the second one entered John's field of vision he squeezed of the first round. The bullet flew cleanly through the air and impacted the soldiers head, just skimming below the helmet, splattering his blood, skull, and brains onto his comrade. The tango halted his fire as he felt the brain matter of his friend splatter across his upper chest, arm, and face; as the target paused John took advantage and fired one shot that went low and punctured the targets neck the second shot went true and finished him off.

As those last two died an eerie silence fell over the camp. John holstered the pistol and approached the Kommandos. "John let me handle this."

She switched over to the European comm. channel, "This is Joint Command Task Force Alpha Six, please identify yourself."

"This is European battle group fourteen, we have no record of you in our database," they aimed their weapons at John who froze, his hand itching for his gun.

"We're classified, I'm Agent Teyla Emmanagan."

"Agents out here?"

"We just thought we'd lend you a hand now can we be friends or does the shooting start again? I should also warn you that the one you're aiming your guns at isn't me."

"We recognize you, come on in," they all lowered their weapons and folded inwards.

Teyla packed up her sniper and began moving towards their camp. She switched over to John's frequency, "Ok your clear I'll be there in 10."

"Let's see what they've got." John approached the formation cautiously. "Who's in charge here?"

One of the soldiers pointed deeper into the cave, "Lieutenant Havenforth."

John moved imposingly through the dark cave. He came across the lieutenant, "report."

"We raided one of their main bases pulled out a lot of Intel, they want it back."

"Evac?"

"Choppers at dawn."

"Can you hold out on your own until then? We're on our own mission."

"Yeah we'll be fine thanks to your assistance there we shouldn't face anyone else for the night."

Teyla decided to join the conversation, "Any chance we can get a copy of that Intel?"

"Well lady considering you just saved our asses I don't think I can really say no can I?"

"Thanks."

He turned back to John, "that was some nice shooting out there where'd you learn?"

"Classified."

"Ok, gotcha."

Teyla appeared from around the corner, "Sorry we can't stay long we have our own mission to accomplish."

"Understood, here's a copy of the data, good luck."

They moved out as quickly as they had arrived.

***

The rest of the night's journey was as uneventful as the first part had been. "The forest should be over the next mountain."

"And then?"

"That is Wraith territory."

They reached the summit of the mountain and a brilliant sun peaked above the horizon behind them showering the forest in golden light. They smiled at the beautiful site and nestled deep within that forest stood a state of the art compound. Their target.

End Chapter 10

A/N Kommandos is purposely spelled that way it wasn't an accident or misspelling.


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